Continuously operated open ended ovens have been developed for proofing, cooking and otherwise treating work products such as various bread products, whereby the food products are placed on pans or on other support means and are progressively moved into, along, and out of an oven. A continuous conveyor system is used to transport the food products and the typical conveyor includes a continuous chain track formed of a series of track sections, with a continuous chain moving through the track. The track typically has impervious bottom wall and impervious opposed side walls and an open ended longitudinal continuous slot along its top wall. The chain rides on the bottom wall and the links of the chain include a pin that extends upwardly through the longitudinal continuous slot of the track for connection to bakery pans or other food support means that travel through the oven.
The baking industry prefers the one piece track sections formed with the upwardly facing longitudinal slot for the passage of the conveyor chain for simplicity of track design as well as for avoiding the escape of lubricating oils and compounds and debris from the track. Inasmuch as the conveyors for ovens are continuous and must go around curves, the track for the conveyor chain has track sections that are curved. However, the curved track sections tend to wear more rapidly than the straight track sections since the links of the chain tend to bear against the inside radius of the curved track sections and the wear on the inside radius is increased. Accordingly, the curved track sections usually must be replaced more frequently than the straight track sections.
A problem with the maintenance, repair and/or replacement of the worn curved track sections of most endless conveyor tracks is that the curved track sections are made of one piece. Generally, this requires the repair person to cut the worn curved track sections away from the straight track sections and replace the curved track sections. The cutting of a conveyor track of an oven is undesirable in that the cutting action on the materials of the conveyor track requires cutting and burning portions of the track sections, and this causes debris such as particles of metal, rust and general debris to be generated in the oven and, in some cases, the lubrication oil typically inside the track is allowed to fall inside the tunnel of the oven. This requires careful cleanup by the maintenance personnel of the oven, including cleaning the surfaces of the oven as well as the tracks and links of the chain conveyor.
Another problem with cutting away curved track sections of a continuous conveyor is that the conveyor chain must be removed from the curved track sections before replacement can be performed on the track. After the sections of the track have been repaired and replaced, then the conveyor chain must be threaded back through the track sections. Again, this requires additional labor and delay in operation of the oven.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have conveyor chain assemblies that are used with open ended ovens that have curved track sections that can be repaired and maintained without having to remove the conveyor chain from the conveyor tracks. It also would be desirable to provide a curved track section of a closed track assembly that can be opened in place without the entire removal of the track section from the oven for the purpose of maintenance, repair and replacement without significant hazard of having lubricating matter and debris escape from the track.
It is to these and other benefits and features that are described herein.